Page 84 of The Murder of Thomas Cardwell
Jordan blew out a breath. “Good.”
She laughed again and stepped close, and he gathered her in, and they kissed soft and sweet under the shade of the trees in Finsbury Circus.
Dear Reader,
Jordan Draper, righthand man of London’s gambling king, first appeared in The Lady Risks All,and since that time, has made cameo appearances in quite a few of my novels. His was always a different character, on the fringes of society and with different aspirations, so writing his story held a certain appeal and was merely a matter of time.
With Jordan being from a different level of society, albeit closely connected with the ton and our investigators, I seized the chance to explore some areas of early Victorian life and business that hadn’t fallen within the scope of any previous story. The story also gave me the opportunity to draw in other members of the Adairs’ and Stokes’s investigative circle, as this case proved to be one in which all of them could contribute. I hope you’ve enjoyed venturing into slightly different fields in this latest installment in the continuing adventures of Barnaby, Penelope, Stokes, and friends. If you feel inclined to leave a review here, I would greatly appreciate it.
As for what’s coming next, inThe Curse of Ill-gotten Gains(October 16, 2025), we return to the social whirl and a select summer house party where Richard Percival discovers the young lady he is supposedly at the party to court standing over the murdered body of their host.
Information about earlier volumes in THE CASEBOOK OF BARNABY ADAIR series—Where the Heart Leads,The Peculiar Case of Lord Finsbury’s Diamonds,The Masterful Mr. Montague,The Curious Case of Lady Latimer’s Shoes, LovingRose: The Redemption of Malcolm Sinclair,The Confounding Case of the Carisbrook Emeralds, and The Murder at Mandeville HallandThe Meriwell Legacy,Dead Beside the Thames and Marriage and Murder — can be found following. Scroll on.
Barnaby, Penelope, Stokes, Griselda, and their friends and supporters continue to tackle the solving of crimes with undimmed enthusiasm. I hope they and their adventures solving mysteries and exposing villains will continue to entertain you in the future just as much as they do me.
Enjoy!
Stephanie.
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COMING NEXT:
THE CURSE OF ILL-GOTTEN GAINS
The Casebook of Barnaby Adair #12
To be released in October, 2025.
Richard Percival has bowed to familial pressure and agreed to attend a tonnish house party at Patchcote Grange, for which the primary aim is to introduce eligible gentlemen to suitable young ladies. Two of Richard’s elderly aunts assure him that Miss Rosalind Hemmings will make the perfect wife for him, and after meeting Miss Hemmings over dinner on the first evening of the party, Richard is sufficiently intrigued to be willing—indeed, he’s even looking forward—to learning more of the unusually direct young lady. But on coming downstairs the following morning, he hears an anguished scream for help. On racing outside to the orchard from whence the scream came, he finds his possibly-intended standing over the very dead body of their universally well-regarded host. This is clearly a matter for Scotland Yard, and Richard wastes no time in summoning Barnaby and Penelope to his, Rosalind’s, and the company’s aid. For very soon, it’s blatantly apparent that the murderer is one of presently residing at Patchcote Grange.
Available for pre-order by July, 2025.
RECENTLY RELEASED:
The tenth volume in
The Casebook of Barnaby Adair mystery-romances
MARRIAGE AND MURDER
#1NYT-bestselling author Stephanie Laurens returns with a puzzling case in which her favorite sleuths must untangle a slew of secrets to expose a coldblooded murderer.
When a middle-aged spinster is found strangled in her country cottage and scurrilous gossip implicates Henry, Lord Glossup, he appeals to Barnaby and Penelope Adair along with Inspector Stokes to unravel the mystery of who killed Viola Huntingdon.
Henry, Lord Glossup, arrives on Barnaby and Penelope Adairs’ doorstep and begs their aid—and that of Stokes—in identifying the murderer of Viola Huntingdon, a middle-aged spinster who lived a largely blameless life in a country cottage in a tiny village close to Henry’s home. As Stokes has already been tapped to take the case, the investigators travel to Salisbury and thence to Ashmore village and throw themselves into the case.
While initially Henry was touted as a suspect, he is quickly eliminated, and with the help of the victim’s sister, Madeline, the investigators set out to discover all they can about the victim and who might have wished her ill. In such a small village, with a commensurately small population, the list of possible suspects is short, but the existence of Viola’s ‘secret admirer, H’ has everyone stumped. First, how could Viola, living in such a small community, have had a secret visitor, a man no one saw except at a distance? And who on earth is he, this H?
